Steve Bloom, Chief Executive Officer

Steve Bloom has been the Chief Executive Officer of Portland since 2005. Beginning early in his tenure, Bloom led the formation of a comprehensive ten-year strategic plan which was completed in December of 2016 and that has been transformational in its scope and impact on the Garden.

Under Bloom’s leadership, the Garden has seen strong organizational growth and increased financial stability. He oversaw the completion of a $33.5 million expansion of the Garden and its facilities, created a curatorial department, expanded and improved programs in culture, art, and education, established the International Japanese Garden Training Center, formed an International Advisory Board, and has dramatically increased national and international visibility and recognition.

In 2015, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it was awarding the Foreign Minister’s Commendations in Honor of the 70th anniversary of the End of World War II. The award was given to individuals and groups with outstanding achievements in the promotion of friendship between and the United States. Steve Bloom was awarded this prestigious recognition along with only 27 other individuals.

Bloom was a 2008-09 Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Japan, sponsored by Hitachi, and concurrently served as Visiting Scholar at Tokyo University of Agriculture. Following his fellowship in Japan, Bloom led an effort to create the North American Japanese Garden Initiative and Association (NAJGA) of which he served as its Founding Board President. Presented by Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, Bloom is the recent recipient of the “2017 Portland Award” recognizing greatest overall contribution to the promotion of Portland’s visitor industry.

While serving a residency in Tokyo, Japan for six months in late 2018 into early 2019, Bloom visited gardens and arts organizations in Japan, Singapore, Brazil, China, and the U.K. — telling the story of the Garden, building new connections, and seeking opportunities for collaboration and exchange. Under Steve Bloom’s leadership, Portland Japanese Garden has seen strong institutional and programmatic growth.

Media Inquiries: Megumi Kato | [email protected] | 310.977.1841

Page 1 of 5 Sadafumi Uchiyama, Chief Curator and Director of the International Japanese Garden Training Center

Sadafumi (Sada) Uchiyama is the Garden Curator at Portland Japanese Garden. Uchiyama is a third generation Japanese gardener from southern Japan where his family has been involved in gardening for over a century. Prior to his appointment as the Garden Curator in October 2008, he also served as a Vice President on the Board of Directors and continues to serve on advisory committees for Portland Japanese Garden. Devoted to fostering relations between Japanese gardens in Japan and those outside of Japan, Uchiyama served as one of seven founding members and the Secretary of the International Association of Japanese Gardens (IAJG) from 1996 to 2000. Stemming from his involvement with the IAJG and his vast knowledge in the field of Japanese gardens, he was invited to speak at the 5th International Symposium on Japanese Gardens in Tokyo in September 2007. Since then, Uchiyama has been working on the development and establishment of the North American Japanese Garden Association (NAJGA) beginning in 2009. He was elected to serve as a Charter Member of the NAJGA Board and its Editorial Board.

As evidence of his interest to give back to the community, Uchiyama has taught landscape design courses and lectured on Japanese gardening at colleges and other public gardens in various parts of the countries. One may find his written contributions in the Journal of Japanese Gardening, Garden Design, Fine Gardening, Inspired House, Luxe Magazine as well as magazines and professional journals in Japan. As the Garden Curator of the Portland Japanese Garden, Uchiyama is actively engaged in ongoing public education and regularly speaks at horticultural societies, garden clubs, and schools and professional conferences in Japan and throughout the US.

In addition to his background as a gardener born and trained in Japan, Uchiyama is also a registered landscape architect in Oregon and California with a BLA and MLA from the University of Illinois. He has been practicing landscape architecture throughout the US. The traditional apprenticeship in Japanese gardening combined with the formal training in Western landscape architecture allows him to design and build a unique and wide range of private and public landscape projects. His representative projects include the renovation of the Osaka Garden, the site of the 1893 Great Columbian Exposition at Jackson Park in Chicago (2000- to date), and the Shofu-en of the Denver Botanic Gardens (2001-20012). Most recently, he completed Shoun-Kei Japanese garden at Sarah Duke Gardens at Duke University, NC. (2015) and currently working on the Rolex Headquarters in Dallas, TX. in collaboration with Kengo Kuma (2015 to date).

Media Inquiries: Megumi Kato | [email protected] | 310.977.1841

Page 2 of 5 Akihito Nakanishi, Arlene Schnitzer Curator of Culture, Art, & Education

Akihito Nakanishi is a cultural leader and public diplomacy expert with 19 years of experience in government relations, public communication, artistic exchanges, and cultural programming in Japan.

For 10 years, Nakanishi served as the Cultural Affairs Specialist at the United States Embassy, Tokyo, where he oversaw a wide spectrum of embassy involvement in cultural, creative, and educational activities designed to enhance mutual understanding between the United States and Japan. In addition to being the principal advisor to the Mission’s Cultural Attaché, he also served as a cultural advisor to Ambassadors with the responsibility of directly overseeing some of the Ambassadors’ cultural and education projects such as “Ties Over Time” (under Amb. John V. Roos) and “International Poetry Exchange Project” (under Amb. Caroline B. Kennedy).

Prior to working for the Embassy, Nakanishi worked for three years as Program Director at one of the major media corporations in Tokyo, followed by a role as Exhibition Director for four years at a family-owned museum. Drawing upon this extensive knowledge of the arts and ties with a myriad of Japanese cultural icons, he has worked as an independent art director, producing exhibitions and art fairs, co-producing literary events and festivals, writing dossiers for arts events in specialty publications and newspapers, while running his own non-profit organization for regional revitalization and youth empowerment, echovisions.

For his work at the Embassy, Nakanishi has received multiple State Department Awards including the State Department Meritorious Honor Award (May 2010), U.S. Embassy Japan Eagle Award (October 2011), and the U.S. Mission Japan Honor Award (October 2016).

Nakanishi holds a Master of Cultural Policy from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan, where he has published a research paper on U.S. Cultural Policy in supporting the arts.

Media Inquiries: Megumi Kato | [email protected] | 310.977.1841

Page 3 of 5 Cynthia Johnson Haruyama, Deputy Director

In her role as Deputy Director, Cynthia Johnson Haruyama managed the Cultural Crossing campaign from its inception, and she managed the start-up and launch of the Japanese Garden Training Center. She oversees implementation of the Strategic Plan, coordinates between the Garden and City bureaus, and is currently working on several new long-term initiatives. She also serves as Portland Japanese Garden’s representative to the Explore Washington Park Board of Directors in the role of Board Vice President.

Previously, Haruyama served in senior management positions for several of Portland’s public gardens, including as Executive Director of (2008 – 2012) and earlier as Executive Director for (2001 – 2008). At both gardens, her first task was financial turn-around followed by a focus on visitor experience, long-range planning, capital renewal and replacement, and Board development. At both Lan Su Garden and Hoyt Arboretum, Haruyama re-started moribund fund development programs and raised significant funds for annual operations and major capital projects.

Haruyama’s interest in non-profit management and public gardens began after practicing corporate and business law with Davis Wright Tremaine followed by her role as General Manager and Sales Director for garden equipment manufacturer, A.M. Andrews Co.

In 2001, she and her family lived for a year in her husband’s hometown of Kagoshima, Japan and travelled extensively in Japan, especially in southern Kyushu. Throughout her time in Japan, Haruyama visited many of Japan’s famed gardens, and observed regional variations in gardens ranging from Kyoto to Kyushu and the Ryukyu islands.

Haruyama graduated with honors in East Asian Studies from Princeton University. Her law degree is from Columbia University in New York.

Media Inquiries: Megumi Kato | [email protected] | 310.977.1841

Page 4 of 5 Lisa Christy, Chief External Affairs Officer

Lisa Christy is a specialist in understanding audiences and how best to communicate with them. She serves as the Chief External Affairs Office at Portland Japanese Garden, overseeing Membership, Marketing, Communications, and Community Relations. Ms. Christy came to the Garden in 2014 as Director of Marketing and Communications at an auspicious time in its history: the organization was about to embark on an historic expansion led by world-renowned architect, Kengo Kuma.

During her tenure at the Garden, Lisa Christy grew the department seven times over, oversaw a comprehensive rebranding for the Garden, and directed the Garden’s expansion communications plan that yielded national & international press. She has expanded the organization’s community access programs for underserved populations, established a comprehensive digital strategy, and has driven record-setting admission for the Garden year over year – even during construction.

Prior to working for Portland Japanese Garden, Christy worked at premiere advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy for nine years where she worked on award winning advertising campaigns such as Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” and Proctor & Gamble’s “Thank you, Mom” Olympic campaign, in addition to Starbucks, Sony, and Travel Oregon. Christy also worked at OLSON advertising agency in Minneapolis, MN and Bernstein-Rein in Kansas City, MO.

As the daughter of professors in education and advertising, Christy believes passionately in giving back to the industry through education. In addition to her agency work, she was a full time instructor at the University of Tennessee where she was awarded Lecturer of the Year. She has also consulted and guest lectured on marketing, communications, and media strategy for universities and professional groups throughout the United States.

Christy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master’s degree in advertising from Michigan State University. She currently lives in Portland with her husband and six- year-old boy who loves baseball and having his mom read “Captain Underpants” books to him.

Media Inquiries: Megumi Kato | [email protected] | 310.977.1841

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